Non-fictional works. Though arguably, some historical characters are heavily fictionalized.
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Yeah - I found non-fictional for a quick synonym search but ruled it out because, technically some of the historical characters have been fictionalised for the purposes of the story (less palatable elements glossed over, real history ignored for the benefit of the story etc…)
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The Teletubbies were fictional within the context of the show, though.
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Yeah but “Fictionalised Non-fictional Characters” doesn’t have the right ring to it 
I would say that the fictionalised aspect is implied what with this being a Tele show after all 
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Tecnaicly all Non-fictional characters are fictional in this scenario. I think this term works on both Davina McCall and Robin Hood.
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Oh I forgot about Robin Hood.
Not non-fiction or real-life but a character that wasn’t created just for Doctor Who. See also Merlin. And Santa 
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I don’t think the Master knew that though
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Well, Merlin’s the Doctor…
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Merlin is a formally ascended Ancient.
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What do you mean? Santa is a real character!
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Somehow I feel even more confused by all this than when I started 
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Right here, the Doctor is definitely Merlin.
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The Teletubbies - and the Clangers - are non-fictional in that they aren’t being presented as fiction - they are in their respective TV shows and therefore being played by ‘real-life’ people.
Oh god, I’m overthinking this!
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Next he’ll go for the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy! Don’t listen to his vile lies!!! 
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Is it worth having a tag or subcategory or whatever for mythical/legendary characters - Robin Hood, Santa etc.
To be fair, Hood and Santa both have historical roots, though.
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We also have the Star Trek characters, Batman and Gandalf. They are not historical but also do not originate from Who.
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Species - organic/inorganic collection of life.
Characters - Can be tagged as historical/real-life, companions etc
Historical/Real-Life is people that do, or did, exist in our world.
Everything else is semantics.
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Honestly, I think a broad umbrella is the best way to handle such a nuanced category. I don’t like labeling characters as monsters, I find it unnecessarily charged, and just calling everyone a character allows for nuance both in characterization and story structure.
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